Another Top Day! How lucky are we!

[james7]

My old mate Syd had a friend who was itching to get out and do some fishing. Late last night I get a call from Syd saying, "what are you doing tomorrow?"

Syd's good mate John was keen to do three things this trip: 1. catch a kingfish, 2. get a few good flathead, and 3. get some rock cod - one of his favourite fish to eat.

As it turned out, ... two out of three aint bad!

It was dark and overcast as we headed out.

There was a pretty decent swell, so we kept our distance from the cliffs as we trolled south.

My reel was the first to go and after a very short fight, a rat king was caught and released. John's anticipation heightened. He didn't have long to wait until his rod started bending.

Just another rat king, but John was happy. It's a great thrill seeing someone who doesn't get to fish often get so excited.

We trolled back over the same area hoping to find some more kings. We'd only gone a short distance when John's reel screams. He tightens the drag , but it's still taking line. Now this might be a decent fish I thought. Syd and I tell John to try and stay calm as we take the boat out to deeper water. The fish goes for a few more runs and John is yelling at us to get the net. He's in full excited panic mode now, scared that he's going to lose his "biggest fish ever!"

But it was all good. Syd gets the kingy in the net and John's 'panic' is now 'relief' and a lot of 'Yahoos!' It's a great feeling seeing someone so happy and excited.

It was not a big king by a lot of people's standards (just over 70cm), but it was legal and John's first decent fish. Anyway, the look on his face was priceless.

A closer inspection showed that this kingy had had a 'close encounter' with a toothy critter in the recent past.

What do you reckon? Big squid maybe?

We continued trolling, but could only manage three or four more rat kings and a salmon.

Time for a flattie drift, a cup of coffee and something to eat.

We moved around, tried different depths, but couldn't find a decent patch anywhere. After a few hours I'd caught five flatties, Syd four, and poor John ... 0! So much for his intention of getting a decent flathead. We decided to address his request for some rockcod and headed off to some reefy spots.

It only took John a few minutes get his first rockcod.

However, it was his third, and biggest rockcod, that had a 'surprise' for him when he was trying to get the hook out.

And no, it wasn't Nemo.

I have no idea what sort of fish it was.

That was the last fish of the day and we headed back to the ramp. Unfortunately John had to get home quickly on 'pain of death' from his missus, so he missed out on all the fun stuff ... cleaning the boat ... scaling and filleting the fish etc. Anyway, it was a top day out.

Here's the "table shot" of the final catch. Not a bad feed there to be shared between the three of us. Gotta be worse ways to spend a day!

After Syd and I had finished all the "fun stuff", and we were relaxing with a few drinks, I announced the day's "awards".

Biggest fish (kingy) - John 100 points

Fish with the biggest scar - John 100 points

Ugliest fish caught with another fish in its mouth - John 100 points

Biggest flathead - ME 100 points

Most flathead - ME 100 points

Smallest ugliest flathead - Syd 3 points

Cheers

Peter

PS Here's another picture of the kingy's 'scar'.

(click on the image to see it full size)

As I look at it now, I reckon if it was a squid or cuttlefish, it must have been a big one. What else could make a bite as big as that on a king? Any ideas?

Edited November 4, 2011 by peterS

[davegroves68]

Fantastic

tho i hate catching Rock cod... got spicked a few times painful.

regards

Dave

[dhype]

great catch and report!

nice table of fish you have there, your mate looked like he had a great time!

the chuck missing from the kingy's head i say came from a cuttlefish.

cheers

Trung

[cut_loose]

Nice mate, real nice !

[OSHISWET]

I love those rock cod, they are fantastic eating , especially the bigger ones

[Formosan]

Nice going there. Kings are the most fun t catch but Those rock cods are the star on the table.

[apple]

Thanks for the entertaining report!

I'm dying to get my own first legal king. Looks like you were outside Sydney. Can you just tell me whether you were using live bait or dead bait or jigs or trolling?

Those rock cods are fantastic in Italian style tomato-base soup. The firmest whitest flesh.

Thanks for any assistance!

Cheers

Mark

[apple]

Actually just reading again and checking the pics, I can see you were trolling.

Anyway, still looking for tips!!

Thanks...

Mark

[tide'n'knots]

nice catch guys - good to see john catch his first king, i can just imagine the excitment onboard!

pete.

[Mutt]

I catch a few rock cod but have always thrown them back! My Dad always said too much trouble cleaning them etc.. What are the best ways of cleaning/filleting/skinning etc and more importantly cooking? Great catch and post by the way!

[Hodgey]

Good on ya Peter! It's great when a novice gets to experience an entertaining day on the water like that. I bet he doesn't wait long before he heads out for another session.

That is a very cool photo of the 'fish-in-a-fish' A table full of delicious fillets!

Cheers

Skip

[james7]

I catch a few rock cod but have always thrown them back! My Dad always said too much trouble cleaning them etc.. What are the best ways of cleaning/filleting/skinning etc and more importantly cooking? Great catch and post by the way!

Red Rock Cod are good eating, but they do have to be a decent size to get a good fillet. John's biggest cod was about 38cm and after I very carefully filleted them, trying to stay well clear of the spikes, I cut each of the two fillets into three "fish cocktail" size pieces. The two smaller cod fillets were cut in half. As for cooking, John said he deep fries them in a beer batter. He coats the fillets in seasoned flour, then dips them in an ice cold beer batter. The batter is just self raising flour and ice cold beer. The beer has to be very cold. Only deep fry a couple of fillets at a time. I'm not sure what beer he uses. Apparently it does make a difference. Drain the fillets on a paper towel and season.

Cheers

Peter

[Mutt]

Thanks Peter! I'll definitely give them a go next time I catch one.

[PRED-ATOR]

well done chaps sounds like a great day out.

I reckon that bite is from a squid or cuttlefish.

You see salmon with them all the time on there head.

Cheers, Stan

[Ray R]

WoooHooo, great stuff Pete, another great report with some top shots too, glad Syds buddy scored himself some fish..

The round table once again was full of fish...

[Robofish]

Peter,

I always enjoy your reports - do you always use skirts when you troll?

Dave

[james7]

Peter,

I always enjoy your reports - do you always use skirts when you troll?

Dave

G'day Dave

90% of the time I use a pink skirt with a double hook. They seem to catch just about anything (kingfish, tailor, bonito, salmon). The one I used last Friday also has some blue plastic around the hook. I only noticed on the last trip how much the blue stands out.

I also like the blue/grey pilchard hardbody, similar to the old one below. Tailor love 'em.

Cheers

Peter

[Robofish]

G'day Peter,

Im interested in that - do you put any lead in them? What leader do you rig them on and what speed do you pull them?

Dave

[james7]

G'day Peter,

Im interested in that - do you put any lead in them? What leader do you rig them on and what speed do you pull them?

Dave

I slide a small bean sinker into the head of the skirt. It's held there by a snap swivel. The picture below shows a very old skirt which has been chewed to pieces by some tailor, but it gives you an idea of what I mean. I also use good quality swivels now.

Leader is 30lb or 40lb mono about 1.5m long. I also have a few bigger skirts using 50lb mono.

Trolling speed varies with the conditions, 10-14kph if it's choppy and maybe 14-18kph if it's smooth. (12-14kph is a good average for kings, bonito and tailor) I don't like seeing the skirt bouncing too much on the surface. Actually, I adjust how much line I have out until I can't see it skipping. Having said all that, we've caught kings trolling at about 4kph when we've slowed down for some reason and we've caught stripies while cruising at over 22kph.

I hope that helps Dave.

Cheers

Peter

[Robofish]

Definitely a big help Peter and I appreciate you taking the time to put me on the right track. To be honest I have tried this with similar setups in the past and not had a touch - the exception being I was using a much heavier leader. I will give it a go again this weekend.

Thanks again and I look forward to seeing your next table full of fish!

Dave

[james77]

Great day out for the boys Peter

nice bite out of the kingie by a big cuttle I think

good feed

[PRED-ATOR]

omg them pink lures are beastly for bonito!

Troll them around head lands and they always get hit haha